| Show SOME GOOD SHORT STORIES Bret ret Hart HartES s Narrow Escape Youths Youth s Companion Comp CompanionI I entered the barroom It was crowded with minere and traders trad rS and a ii few rew j I smartly dressed professional looking men Hero vanity led me intO OX ex l I could not bear to address 1 the important and andI I barkeeper lr keeper as a amen mere boyish for information I was wassiliy mh enough to t 1 demand a 8 drink ass aIl laid i down Ales ates another quarter tor I had had ha asked my question the bar j keeper had hail handed banded me rue the decanter de ant end and I had poured out the tuft stuff with as much ease 00 and grownup confidence as sc I could assume when a singular incident oc cc occurred occurred As Au it had some bearing upon my fortune I may rehe re te St U here Tho ceiling of ot the saloon was support supported ed by a half hair dozen wooden columns about eighteen inches square standing in Ina a line parallel with the counter of ot the tk bar br and about two tio feet teet from it The front of the bar was as s crowded With ith customers cu when suddenly to o my m astonishment t they one and all aU put down their glasses and her bur riedl backed ba ked Into the spaces between the tha columns At the same moment a shot was fired from the street S Ht through the tha thee large e open gg door that stood at right angles n O with the or the counter D and theY the I columns The Phe bullet raked and S the th of the counter front trout but with no nu other damage The shot was returned frOm the upper end Il of the bar and then for tor the first time 1 became aware that tha thai two men with leveled revolvers were shooting Sh at each oo h other through the sa loon The bystanders In range were we fully fuBy protected by the wooden columns the barkeeper had ducked below the counter a nt the fin first shot Six x bo x fe were ex en changed by the e duelists but as far tar as I 1 could see nobody was hurt A mirror was smashed and my glass glus had bad part of ot K rim carries cleanly away by the third shot sh t and d Its contents spilled I 1 had remained rem Standing near the Gun coon ter tei and I presume I may have been pro tooted by the columns colum S but the whole thing passed so 80 quickly end aad I was waa so utterly absorbed in its dramatic novelty that toot I cannot recall having bavin th the slightest sensation se of ot physical fear Indeed Ind Ed I had been much more frightened in I positions of ot less Ices peril My only concern and this was mount was that I might betray by any word or movement my youthfulness e aa as or With such an cc experience I think that ny shy eby vin will understand un this and probably feel foe as ag I did So strong was this that while the sting of was vas still in my mJ nostrils I move toward the bar bel and taking up my broken slat 3 stid to the th b Per somewhat S and diffidently wIll you Ou please plea fill nn m me mc another glees glass Its not my fauk if it this was broken Tho barkeeper bark 1 rising flushed flashed and od ex cited from behind the bar bu looked at m tn toO with a queer smile and then passed the decanter and a fresh h glass gila I heard heerd a au laugh and an oath behind tue me and my cheeks flushed u as s I took a t pip gulp or of the fiery spirit and hurried away Not the th War He Ere Thought NSw New Orleans Speaking the tho waal remInds me of a funny that occurred recently at atI my homo a visitor from MIlwaukee at t owe on of or th hotels yesterday ye I r W was s I sitting atting in In my office tw tim day before Oom g Pauls s when whan a 8 telegram was hamoed ro me from a friend who lives at Mineral POInt Feint a town towi in the southwest t corner comer of ot yie he state stats It read re What Is to tho latest t l S from frOst the Boer Doer war I was wan W s greatly surprised but on reflection I that my friend friends wife was 18 ww an aU English b lady a and tf concluded that smI she sm I must mu t be anxious about client s some noise m relative in the arni I 1 wired back War regarded aw as absolutely certain Next week I was i I surprised d to t meet m t my friend on the street I He d black as 8 Well be I said your tip was w no good The war wat wati j i nt ha earns off The Thoe dIckens it I I replied They are fighting ng right now Where There he asked I In I Africa said L Africa be he exclaimed who the mischief asked you OU ant Dg about r You did 1 I retorted i I 1 you ou telegraph Vh the latest lat st news from the th Boer Beer I war No he heI roared I telegraphed bats the latest t tn news iwa n ws from die beor ber r warT wM Wee You see h M I had some brewery stock for which he h hd bad received an offer and i an wanted to a as ascertain certain whether a ft prospective pro price out rung cog 4 row raW wa apt to occur He lie sold gold o Oft en the tho tb st r of or ormy my message I The Parsons Last Words I Cleveland Plain Dealer Daler I Ho was wae an honest bonet lawyer said saad the t I J parson gravely and then noting the look of on the listener eN faces race he I hastily Hy hast added Ate As A lawyers go goThere 1 There Thero was aa a neue iUt ehu Ung of feet end 16 8 the Ute listeners stirred uneasily j Ho He was an average lawyer l said the th theyer a fine type of an average law lawyer yer Y l Ann And when I say lay average I mean JUt just thi U he be 4 had d been the only lawyer on onearth earth ho he would woold have bave been both the best beat t and ute tile poorest t In hi his profession But nut as l I 1 there were wera others I will mil admit that bel he i I averaged a good goad deal deRI nearer the latter than the tobe former Tho mci speaker paused pe am an wiped b his Where te Is he now dearly dean beloved O ed We w dont Mut know but we all eJi can guess And nd d If he MS hits a where we think chink he h t is w we can comfort nr our with one OIle and that is tha tind fiefe fi he l putting in his everlasting best licks I W iii get h Ii a stay of ot proceedings S All AIl the Talent In the Game Washington Po Poet U One On of or the th boys at t the hotel betel put me on to lb a little poker game said the dry dr good goode drummer and I went around to see what it was like Hka There were about bout thirty re ic looking locking people in the room and of or them th was 5 trying to teach tenth me the tb luo Of or the tM card when the police poUce broke in ld and mad mada tL a clean sweep of 8 everybody I Next morning when arraigned at the court I 1 wanted a So lawyer l wyer and nd re was a general l laugh gh lit In court when hen hie hia honor bonor I dont know where e get on one There Thera are Aro ro nine in town but all are ace in the pen pen with von vou OO It was US so 0 continued the drummer sat and things might have gone go hard hanl with wit ue us bad had it not been for tor the fact tact that the judge was wall there the too but bad just stepped out as the raid was made used Nothing was said eald l d about Ik ita it df t course but h he let 11 ue us off Oft with a 8 fine tIne of or Iloh ch and a tot lot of fatherly ad advice adice vice ice Good Clock I j Youths Comp Com m mA A Jh visiting In the south was wag toM told a aMOt astory story MOt of an old ola oo rd man ma who 00 canto CARIO CARIOto to a with the two hands of ofa a cl clI I want KUt yer to fix up de d hands Dey aint kept no correct time for tor f mo me den six x W WeH M where TC the tho the watchmaker Out at my house houle But I must have the ute clock dock Didn I 1 tell tall yer DUffin e mat matter mattor tel ter wid de do de do heWs bans An hero doy d be bo You Jest jeet t want do de te clock ao so you kin Mn tinker wM wid it and end charge ch me roe a R aso abig big price beck back Mm Mn baWL Mel Ani so 10 Min hs he b stetted started oil off to find an honest He Wanted the Best Oklahoma mo State Capital Yet Yes sold sni a n rich Oklahoma farmer r to toG toG i iO G O Lowell Miller yesterday I am proud I or of my girls and would like to g see e them comfortably married and as I I 1 have hw made madea a little money the they wm will not go to t their husbands penniless Theres Mary Maty S yours OMS and a real good girL I shaM gIve h her r when whan the she 10 Is married Then lien comes comBS Bet who wh wont see 35 5 again end and I Ishall soot shall give girt hoc hor and d the man who woo takes Eliza BUm who is la 40 10 will have h ve 16 X with her bar G Lowell Lowen reflecting a mo sic moment moment ment meat or so s then inquired You h one ono about 50 SO have you |
